US Isolating Semiconductor Industry... Pressuring Japanese and Dutch Companies as Well

Urging Semiconductor Equipment Companies Like Tokyo Electron and ASML
to Restrict Maintenance Support for Chinese Semiconductor Equipment
Continuing Biden Administration Policies...
Further Tightening Restrictions on Nvidia Chips

The United States is increasing pressure on export restrictions targeting China's semiconductor industry. It is demanding that not only domestic companies but also allied companies, including those from Japan and the Netherlands, impose semiconductor technology export restrictions to China at the same level as the U.S. government. It is reported that the U.S. government is also considering detailed measures to strengthen export controls on semiconductor chips that Nvidia can export to China.

According to Bloomberg News on the 24th (local time), officials from the Trump administration recently discussed with Japanese and Dutch officials a plan to restrict engineers from Tokyo Electron and ASML Holdings from performing maintenance on semiconductor equipment within China. This is at a level comparable to the regulations applied by the U.S. government to domestic semiconductor equipment companies such as Lam Research, KLA, and Applied Materials.

The United States is accelerating its semiconductor sanctions against China. On the 21st, President Trump signed the 'America First Investment Policy' memorandum, which has been regarded as the strongest ever. The memorandum defines China as a hostile country and states that all legal means, including the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), will be used to restrict Chinese investments in U.S. technology, critical infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, energy, raw materials, and other strategic sectors.

These measures are interpreted as a strategy to damage China's semiconductor production capacity and to hinder the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and military technology. For example, it aims to prevent Chinese memory semiconductor manufacturer Changxin Memory Technologies from purchasing U.S. technology. An anonymous source told Bloomberg News, "The previous Biden administration handed over several policy priorities to the Trump administration's National Security Council (NSC), and the new administration accepted them."

There are also reports that the Trump administration is considering additional restrictions on SMIC, the world's third-largest foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturer) and a major partner of China's telecommunications giant Huawei. The previous Biden administration blocked exports to some SMIC facilities but applied individual reviews to others, leading to criticism that the restrictions were somewhat lax, according to Bloomberg News.

Discussions to strengthen export restrictions on chips from U.S. semiconductor company Nvidia are also becoming more concrete. The U.S. government is reportedly considering further limiting the quantity and types of Nvidia chips that can be exported to China without a license.

Earlier, Chinese startup DeepSeek caused a stir in the global AI industry by launching the chatbot 'R1' in Hangzhou, China, in early last month. Some of its functions demonstrated performance comparable to similar AI tools from the U.S. Foreign media suggested that China might be ahead of expectations in the AI race. The U.S., competing with China for AI supremacy, has maintained strict principles on semiconductor chip exports to China.

DeepSeek has not fully disclosed the semiconductors used in developing its AI models, but its researchers recently revealed in a paper that the 'V3' model released last month was trained using 2,048 Nvidia H800 chips. The H800 is a product specially designed by Nvidia for the Chinese market after the Biden administration blocked China's access to high-performance semiconductors. However, after the U.S. government banned exports of several Nvidia chips, including the H800, to China in October 2023, Nvidia developed the lower-spec H20 chip and has been selling it to China.

The White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are reportedly investigating how DeepSeek purchased Nvidia semiconductors. Bloomberg News reported on the 31st of last month that U.S. authorities are examining whether Nvidia semiconductors were purchased through a third party in Singapore to circumvent U.S. AI chip sales restrictions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.